“The Pale King: An Unfinished Novel,” David Foster Wallace (NPR’s best novels of 2011)

“Flush,” Virginia Woolf. (Oprah)

“Let Me Finish,” Roger Angell

“Salvage the Bones,” Jesmyn Ward (recommended by Ann Patchett in “And the winner of the Pulitzer Prize Isn’t.”)

“The Year of Learning Dangerously,” Quinn Cummings (recommended by Alice Bradley, who seems trustworthy.)

“Mo Meta Blues,” Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson

“The Madness Underneath,” Maureen Johnson (NPR’s best books of 2013)

“Someone,” Alice McDermott (NPR again)

“The Paying Guests” by Sarah Waters (Washington Post’s “The ten best books of 2014”)

“Thirteen Days in September: Carter, Begin, and Sadat at Camp David” by Lawrence Wright